This is from MK Tzipi Hotovely, one of the more rightwing members of Likud:

“Israeli law should be applied on the Judea and Samaria region,” Hotovely said during a conference in the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya and stated she did not rule out granting citizenship to Palestinians.

The MK explained that “Judea and Samaria are a part of the land of Israel,” and blamed the Palestinians for the failure of the political process. “We strongly wish to get a divorce, but the other side doesn’t want to separate.”

Hotovely told Ynet later in the evening, “It’s unthinkable that Jews in Judea and Samaria would live under occupation and under a military regime. The distorted policy, which states that every construction permit must be approved by the defense minister harms the most basic rights.

“It’s time to lift the question mark over Judea and Samaria and view the people living there as citizens with an equal status. Thinking ahead, strategically, we should consider granting gradual citizenship to Palestinians based on loyalty tests.”

And with that, the usually unimpressive Hotovely became the first Likud member to face reality: you cannot settle the West Bank and talk about a solution to the Palestinian problem at the same time, unless you are ready to turn the Palestinians into equal citizens.

The “loyalty tests” part is indeed troubling, but let’s look on the bright side this time: if Netanyahu is talking about two states, and the radical right about a bi-national one, it seems that Israelis are finally realizing that the occupation can’t go on for much longer.

If I am not mistaken, years ago Moshe Arens said that we should annex the West Bank and give the Palestinians the right to choose Israeli citizenship.

2noam said at 7:20 am on December 21st, 2009:

Menachem: I don’t remember such remark but Arens (and I couldn’t find it on the net either), but given his objection to the two state solution and the settlement freeze, it is possible he did say something of that sort. I wonder though whether it was when he was still an active politician, like Hotovely is.

I wouldn’t call her “unimpressive”, though. She’s not particularly sane, but she has savage political instincts and she became the de-facto leader of the rightist wing in the Likud within a month of the election – no mean feat for a 30-year-old first-timer.